Perforated penholder



(ModeL) F. M. LIBBY.

' PERFORATED PENHOLDER.

No. 484,967. Patented Oct; 25, 1892.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERIO M. LIBBY, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

PERFORATED PENHOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,967, dated October 25, 1892. Application filed December 18, 1889. serial No. 334,166. (Model) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERIC M. LIBBY, of Portland, county of Cumberland, and State of Mame, have invented an Improvement in Fenholders, of which the following descript1on, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings indicating like parts.

This invention has for its object to produce a penholder combining elasticity and strength, as well as adaptability to receive pens of various sizes, and is an improvement upon the invention set forth in my patent of ilggsUnited States, No. 383,185, dated May 22, The especial aim of my present invention is to give strength to the holder, which at the time that elasticityis imparted is so essential in the protracted use of penholders. The combination of strength and an elastic property is the first requisite of a useful penholder.

Previous to the patented invention above referred to in the construction of penholders no attempt had been made to give elasticity to the holders themselves other than by making them of material more or less elastic or providing an independent barrel, of metal, split on one side for the purpose of admitting pens of various sizes, the main reliance being placed on the pen to be used.

Many pens as now constructed have little pliability, thereby causing much discomfort in theiruse for any length of time in connection with ordinary holders. This defect was remedied in a very high degree by the invention described in the patent above referred to and upon which the present invention is considered an improvement. Like that invention, the purpose of the one herein described is to provide a penholder that may be used with any pen, hard or soft, without tiring the hand during long-continued use, and at the same time insuring the strength and freedom from liability to break in use under pressure consequent upon common use of the holder.

Figure 1 is a top view of a penholder embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view; Fig. 3, a section of Fig. 1, taken on the line 00 m; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-section of Fig. 1 on the line y y.

The holder at, of rubber, zylonite, celluloid, I

the slitted end of the plug, the slit d allowing the jaws e e to be pressed toward each other to accommodate pens of various sizes and curvatures. Then the plug is constructed as above, the best results are attained; but

it is obvious that the exact form of plug may be changed without departing from my invention.

As in the invention described in my former patent, before referred to, at or near the back end of the plug a the holder at is provided with one or more series (preferably two) of transverse slits or saw cuts, as at s 8, (see Figs. 1 and 3,) the said slits being substantially parallel to each other and of equal length. One or two series of these slits may be made, as is deemed desirable; but I prefer two series diametrically opposite, or nearly so, to each other. Hereinbefore and in the claims in speaking of the slits or saw cuts I have used the term transverse slits, and by such term I mean slits or cuts in the holder at right angles, or nearly so, relative to the lmgitudinal axis of the holder. By the position of these transverse slits-viz, at or near the back end of the plug-the holder is rendered elastic at that portion grasped by the hand or fingers of the writer, and in an upand-down direction.

I have now. discovered that an additional durability and elasticity, (especially the former,) since it lessens the strain on the parts of the holder between the several transverse slits, is also obtained by making a longitudinal slit of greater or less length in the former unslitted longitudinal part of each side of the penholder, which part is seen at m m, extending between the two series of transverse slits. Sufficient stiffness is still retained in the holder when these additional slits are made and the actual liability to breaking of the holder at the places where the transverse slits are made is very much The construction of the longitudinal slits at the points referred to afford, also, ease to the horizontal movement of the pen over the paper, and the strain is removed from the parts where the transverseslits are made by the ease and readiness with which the two edges or lips of the longitudinal slits approach each other when the pressure of the hand in writing is applied to the penholder.

The longitudinal slits must be of a thickness sufficient to allow of a free positive motion of the two lips or edges of the slit or slits toward each other when the holderis in use.

The motions of the pen over the paper, it is evident, exert a combination of two forces on the holder. One is vertical, or nearlyso,*and the other is in a general direction across the paper sheet from left to right. Further ease and relief are obtained in thehandlingand use of the penholders when, combined with the transverse slits, are also employed the longitudinal ones, and in the same proportion as this ease is obtained to the user so, also, are

elasticity and durability imparted to the;

holder.

The reduction of the physical elfort inthe use-of the penholder is quite or nearly the measure-of the reduction of the liability of the holder to break.

Without the use of the longitudinal slits strain in the bending of the holder was directly across the wholeunslitted longitudinal parts of the holder lying between the transverse slits. By the presentimprovement the strain is relieved when the holder is bent. Upon a first examination of the penholder by one unacquainted with itsproperties,and when it is bent by the hand experimentally, the closing of the longitudinal slits as the holder is thus tested exhibits the flexible r character and the non-liability to break of the penholder. A penholder easily elastic, and thus not liable to fracture in all directions when its properties are tested by use, is thus produced.

Ido not desire to limit myself to the egzact form of penholder herein shown and described to any particular form or number of slits or .cuts nor to the exact position of the same relative to the longitudinal axis of the holder, as I believe myself to be the first to construct a penholder homogeneous throughout and made elastic by reason of a series of short in dependent transverse slits or cuts in combination with the longitudinal slits or side cuts and arranged as set forth.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As an improved article of manufacture, apenholder of homogeneous material, slitted transversely for a portion of its length and slitted longitudinally in the parts lying between the series of transverse slits, whereby increased elasticity and durability to the holder are imparted by obtaining flexibility in two directions, as herein set forth.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a'homogeneous penholder made hollow for a portion of its lengthand provided with short transverse slits, combined with a longitudinally-slitted plug to fit into the outer end of said hollow portion, and said hollow portion having, also, longitudinal slits, as herein set "forth, and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERIG M. LIBBY. Witnesses:

GEo. T. EDWARDS, N EWELL W. EDsoN. 

